03/28/2008
8For the Lord’s message rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out, so we don’t need to say anything. 9For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
The Greek pantheon consisted of many gods who interacted with each other and with humans with mixed benevolence and malice. They had no particular concern for humans, and in fact (as the myth goes) when Prometheus gave fire to humans, he was punished by the other gods. The common Greek would grow up learning all these myths as fact. But a couple hundred years before Jesus walked the earth, Socrates and Plato both began to question the validity of these stories. Both of them suffered for their heresy, but the seed was sown.
By the time Paul arrived in the areas we now know as Greece, there was skepticism about the pantheon. Therefore, the news of a God who actually cared for humans was a refreshing and welcome message. Here, for the first time, they hear of a God who not only created everything and rules over all, but cares for them individually and has extended to them meaning for this life and beyond.
Add to this that this same God came and walked among humans, healing, teaching, and loving all he met. Whenever gods of the pantheon would come to earth, one never knew whether their intent was good or bad. But Paul presented to them the message of a God who was nothing but good.
Now one looking on could easily say: “But isn’t this just another myth?”
The answer lies in the Holy Spirit. When we accept Jesus, we are given the Holy Spirit which is a manifestation of God in our lives. This presence makes all the difference because in this, we know that we serve a living God. We have not merely heard a story and believe it for fact; we have experience the renewing of the Holy Spirit.
Imagine how it must have been for a person of Greece to finally understand the difference between myth and truth.
Jesus came to show us the difference. Paul commended the church at Thesoloniki because their lives reflected their trust in the living and true God. Can people looking at your life see this same influence?
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
©2008 Cleff Publishing, all rights reserved.
Terms of Usage: This devotional may be copied or forwarded for personal use without permission, but must include the author, publisher, web link, and copyright notice. Use in another published work must obtain permission first.